I was lucky enough to be invited to the banquet the night before the dedication of the Auditorium and Manwaring Center for those involved in the projects. It was held in the special events room that we designed in the Manwaring Center, which was a cool thing. We'd never seen the space in an event before.
I bought a new dress from Dillards a few days before. It is a fancy black velvet dress with a jacket top that has a fluffy blue collar. Bethany let me borrow her blue stoned jewelry. I was really glad that I had upgraded when we arrived at the fancy affair. I was also glad that I was able to stay that night in Rexburg at the Marriot. I checked in and was able to get dressed up between work and the dinner.
It was a small group (I'm thinking about 60 attended). I was assigned to table 3. We went in and talked to a few people. Rulon and Carol Nielsen helped me warm up my cold hands. President Clark asked everyone to take their seats so that we could begin. I had a hard time finding my table. It turned out that my seat was at the head table with President Henry B. Eyring his wife, President Clark and his wife, Jim Lewis (FFKR) and Steve Jacobson with Okland and his wife. I hadn't really considered looking there!
I sat right next to sister Eyring. Elder Eyring was so humble and nice. He asked about each of our lives. I told him that I remembered him wearing a pink Harvard robe when he visited the University. He laughed and told me that he came and didn't have a robe. A Rexburg seamstress sewed a robe using a pattern for a Harvard robe. Instead of Harvard crimson, she had selected a more fuchsia colored fabric. He said that he was embarrassed but had worn it since then.
I told him about the two plaza projects that we are working on to the north and south of the Manwaring now.
He asked about my dad's profession. I told him about Uranium mining in New Mexico. Out of nowhere he asked if daddy got cancer from it. He said that he knew Grants because he had lived in Albuquerque when he was in the military.
Jackson Ferguson, Mike Leishman and Jimmy Nielsen were also invited. Jackson sat by Elder Bednar and his wife at one table and Mike and Jimmy sat next to Elder Nelson and his wife at the other.
It was a fancy 3-course dinner. I only made it about half way through each course because I was trying to be so polite and careful. I was grateful for some etiquette lessons we had at some FHEs a few months back. For example, you butter each individual piece of roll as you break it off, rather than cutting the roll in half and buttering the whole thing. You don't push your plate away when you are done. You don't place your napkin on top of your plate when you are done, etc,...
President Clark spoke about the campus being built on a rock (literally. If you go down 2-4' below the topsoil, you will hit bedrock everywhere on campus). He spoke about the symbolism of that.
A girl sang a solo of "Consider the Lilies".
President Eyring then spoke. He reminded us that the purpose of the appreciation dinner was not only to thank those that worked hard on the projects, but also to show appreciation to God, whose hand was in the projects. He said that God is more highly involved than we realize. Jackson and I have felt this on the project as we run into just the right person on campus that we needed to talk to, or design solutions have come to our minds to resolve a difficult problem.
After, we gave Jim Smyth and his wife a tour of both buildings. He was a vice president of the University who retired midway through the project. We also took Mike Shatzer and his wife along with Jackson and his wife. Wayne Clark with the University met up with us in the Auditorium and had keys to take us where we wanted. We did a 2 hour tour. It was so much fun. We reminisced and referenced inside jokes that only hundreds of hours of meetings can germinate.
The next morning was the dedication. I hadn't slept well in the excitement, but had to wake up early because I accidentally left my laptop and tickets in the Okland Auditorium trailer. I scraped off my windows and drove over to pick them up.
Bethany and Scott were able to use the tickets that Penni Cromar couldn't use because her mother had been in the hospital that week. We all felt so sad that she couldn't be there. The Crenshaws sat with us. All of the team members and university people were in our section. I knew about a quarter of the section. It was such a joyous occasion. We were all so excited and couldn't sit down. As we saw all of the people we worked with, we just had to run over and shake their hands and talk to them. There was such comradory. I can't describe the feeling of gratitude and fulfillment that we felt as, in this setting, we came to the collective realization of how significant and historic the completion of these two projects really was. All of the problems of the process melted away.
The orchestra did a long interpretive piece of High on a Mountain Top that was very beautiful. The orchestra and choir performed come thou fount of every blessing. Elder Bednar spoke about the spirit of Ricks. Elder Nelson spoke more to the students about rededicating our own lives with this building. President Eyring spoke about the history of the building coming to be. He told about how President Hinkley felt inspired to change the program from 12,000 seats to 15,000 seats and to speed up the construction timeline. This decision came just before the financial crisis of 2006. Because funds had already been appropriated for the two buildings, the projects went forward.
Jim with Mike Leishman who was the Project Architect over the Auditorium.
Jim with Rulon and Carol Nielson. Rulon was promoted from Campus Architect to Director over Campus Facilities and Construction half way through the project. We were able to sit with them. Mary Taylor (Rulon's secretary) and her husband Kim Taylor (the fire protection subcontractor on the Manwaring) are seated in the front of the picture.
A row of FFKR team members. Dave, Mike Leishman and wife, Jim Moore and Andrae Kelly and sister.
Richard Baxter (our spec writer), Jose Sanchez, Steve Goodwin and Kevin Wilde were able to come up for the dedication. Each had contributed to the projects in some form.
Payne Engineering (Electrical Engineers for Both Projects): Eldon Payne and wife. Todd Paye and Wife and Dennis with his wife; standing on stair 7 in the Manwaring. Todd Payne used to be in Grandma Martineau's Ward in Pocatello.
Tanner Barfus and Associates: The Structural Engineering team: Leon Tanner and wife, Don Barfus and wife, and Luke.
Me with Charles Anderson. He is the Vice President over physical facilities. He is the one, we found out, who influenced the secretary to assign Jim and I to the head table. I worked heavily with him before he was promoted to his current position.
Thanks, Colin!